Baked Eggs with Spinach and Tomatoes

$3.40 recipe / $0.85 serving

Have you ever noticed that the fewer ingredients a recipe has, the more elegant it seems? Lucky for me, that also usually means it’s pretty easy and, depending on the ingredients you choose, very inexpensive. This super simple baked egg dish is just that. Simple, elegant, inexpensive, and delicious.

This might seriously be the easiest “real” breakfast dish ever. All you do is layer the ingredients in a casserole dish, pop it in the oven, and take it out when it’s done. Then it’s ready to spoon over an English muffin, or serve with toast for dipping. If you want to impress someone for breakfast or brunch, MAKE THIS. (And hey, no one said that person you’re trying to impress can’t be you!)

This is also a great “sweep the fridge” dish. You can add all sorts of leftovers to the mix. Leftover artichoke hearts? Yes ma’am. A sprinkle of feta? Okey-dokey. Extra shredded chicken or sausage? Toss ’em in there! Got a garden with fresh herbs? Oooh, you’re the lucky one. Sprinkle those fresh herbs over top and experience an extra fancy pants breakfast. You deserve it.

I only made four eggs because I failed to check my egg stash before I went to the grocery store, but with a couple slices of toast and maybe a little fruit, one egg per serving would be plenty. You could easily up the servings to two eggs per person by using eight eggs and only add about 20 cents per serving. If you want two eggs per serving, keep the other ingredients in the same proportions, but use eight eggs instead of four. The baking time may increase slightly. If you want to double the recipe for eight people, use a larger dish and double all of the ingredients and use either 8 or 16 eggs.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 2 quart casserole dish with non-stick spray or coat with butter. Thaw the spinach and squeeze out most of the moisture (no need to go overboard here, just make sure it's not dripping).

Cut the tomatoes into chunks and place them in the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle the spinach over the tomatoes. Season the tomatoes and spinach with the garlic powder, red pepper flakes, a pinch of salt, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 5 cranks of a pepper mill).

Crack the eggs on top of the spinach and tomatoes. Drizzle the cream over everything in the dish, then top with the shredded cheese. Bake the dish in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the whites are opaque, but still soft and moist (they should jiggle slightly when you shake the dish). The exact cooking time will depend on the size and shape of your dish, so begin checking for doneness at around 15 minutes.

Notes

To increase the servings to two eggs per person, simply keep all of the other ingredients the same and add 8 eggs to the dish instead of four. Baking time may increase.

You can use any type of shredded cheese you like, although creamier cheeses work best.

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Step by Step Photos

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Thaw 1/2 lb. of frozen spinach, then squeeze out most of the moisture. I like to use the spinach that is frozen loose in a bag like this, rather than the kind that is frozen in a block. It is usually sold in 1 lb. bags, so I just estimate half of the bag.

Coat a 2 quart casserole dish (small, like an 8×8 inch dish) with non-stick spray, or smear it with butter. Cut two Roma tomatoes into chunks, then place them in the bottom of the dish. Lay the squeeze spinach over top. Season the vegetables by sprinkling 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (optional), 1/8 tsp salt, and a little cracked pepper over top (maybe five cranks of a pepper mill).

Crack four (or eight) eggs over top of the vegetables. This size dish and this amount of vegetables could have easily handled 8 eggs, but I didn’t have that many left. Doh!

Lastly, drizzle 2 Tbsp of cream or half and half over the dish and then top with 1/2 cup shredded cheese. The cream is really important here, so don’t skip it. It helps keep the whole dish moist and creamy. I may even be tempted to use 1/4 cup next time. I used an Italian cheese blend, but you could use just about any shredded cheese. Creamy cheeses (unlike the blend I used) are actually better, but this was still amazing!

Bake the eggs in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. The exact cooking time will vary greatly depending on the size of your dish and how many eggs you use, so just keep an eye on it after about 15 minutes. The eggs are finished with the whites have just solidified and turned opaque, but are still fairly soft. The yolks should still be liquid. If you giggle the dish, the eggs should wobble slightly.

I scooped my egg and vegetables right onto a nice piece of bread and ate them like an open faced sandwich. SO DIVINE. This would also be amazing with an English muffin. THIS is how you make your day off special!

This (along with your enchilada sauce) are two of my favorite recipes on your blog–so easy, so fast, and so good. I’ve been cooking for years, including a commercial kitchen, but never baked eggs! When I know I’m making this in the morning, I put the eggs and frozen spinach on the counter before bed to bring to room temp. When assembling, I make little “nests” in the spinach to contain the eggs, and loosely cover with foil. Comes out perfectly every time! A sprinkle of bacon on top…ummm. Thanks so much for this great recipe!

We made this last week for dinner – I only had whole milk, so I used conservatively and covered the egg dish with foil the whole time. I uncovered it for the last 4 minutes, and the yolks were less runny…which was what I was going for. The milk and egg white ran through the crannies of the spinach/tomato, and made an awesome omelet-y layer. We served on English muffins, and I took the last one to work. My co-workers gathered around like it was the greatest thing they’d ever seen: “How do you bake an egg?!” Recipe = shared. I even used drained canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh, and the whole thing tasted fresh and simple and delicious.

This is an amazingly filling and delicious recipe! I didn’t get to the store today and was searching your site for a egg recipe and stumbled upon this one. I had to sub in canned diced tomatoes but it was still very tasty! I can’t wait to experiment with various vegetables and flavors. Thank you!

Thank you for this lovely recipe! I just made it for my Saturday lunch and its one of these recipes that you can make for just for yourself in no time and its still super yummy!
I put a few slices of ham at the bottom then spinach, then slices of heart of palms(didn’t have tomatoes), then eggs and cheese, completely forgot the cream and it turned out super super yummy!!!

This has been my favorite breakfast for a while now, but I recently discovered a game changer: serve this over grits with a half ounce of sharp cheddar mixed in. It may be the best thing you have ever done for your taste buds (and will leave you with a very full belly). :)

Hmm, you know, I really can’t think of anything that has the same consistency and will keep the eggs moist. You really need something fatty, like cream to prevent it from being watery, but straight up fat like butter or coconut oil will just make it greasy. You can try just leaving it out, but I can’t vouch for how much it will be affected.

My boyfriend and I just made this and it was great! We used 1% milk instead of half and half and less than half a cup of cheese to make it a little healthier. We also covered the dish with foil for the first 10 minutes, then baked 10 minutes longer, which cooked the eggs pretty evenly.

Hi Beth – it sounds like the cream is pretty important here, but I don’t have any and am trying to avoid going to the store. I do have 2% milk and plain greek yogurt. Would either of those (or some combination) work?

This was a very pleasant surprise! I’m not a big fan of runny eggs, so I poked the yolks with a fork a few minutes before the end of cooking. It didn’t change much, just enough that I didn’t need a spoon. Very yummy!

Hmmm, I don’t know. I didn’t really experience that problem. My guess is that it’s the acid from the tomatoes. Maybe try to squeeze out the tomato insides (the liquidy part) before adding them so there is less tomato liquid. The acid + heat will make dairy curdle.

Made this for breakfast this morning – it came out really well! The only strange thing was that some of the eggs were overcooked and some were still runny – so I guess I overcooked them a little. But it definitely wasn’t too watery. This was perfect for a weekend breakfast and for something a little different. Thanks!

We had a family reunion and I made this when it was my day to make breakfast. BIG YUM! I also had some eggs cooked hard and a few with whites still super runny. Good ole Mom suggested next time, perhaps a piece of foil over the top would help even out the egg cooking time. Beth…?

This was a nice simple lunch with a bread roll on the side. Had no problems with liquid after squeezing out the spinach really well. My eggs were a bit overdone but that was my fault for not paying attention!!!

Hi! I’m Beth…

As a food lover and a number cruncher I've decided that cooking on a budget shouldn't mean canned beans and ramen noodles night after night. This is my web log of good food cooked with little cash. My stomach is full and my wallet is too. Read More